William Elsey Connelley

“ Precisely speaking there is no new country and pioneers and pioneer life no longer exist. An absorbing and fascinating condition has passed into history, and its lessons and inspiration live principally in the lives of those who endured the hardships and contributed by various services and diversified gifts to the upbuilding of the present. Shawnee County has as noble a roll call of early settlers as any part of Kansas, and among those inseparably associated with the Fulton County records, none are more deserving of perpetuation in its annals than is the late Edwin Scotton. ”

“ Scotton bought 160 acres of land in Menoken Township, which now forms a part of his well-improved farm of 205 acres, in addition to which he has a great deal of town property. He was extensively engaged in general farming and raising hogs and horses, but in 1906 came to Topeka and engaged in the coal and feed business. ”

“ She also assisted him in the clearing and cultivation of his land, and the farm was highly improved and valuable, but Mr. Scotton thought that he could find better opportunities in the West, and traded his Indiana farm for 640 acres in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, and a small farm in Illinois. He arrived in 1869, but soon found his investment an unprofitable one, as the land was practically worthless for farming purposes, and he traded his Kansas farm for a team of horses and his Illinois land he sold for $320. ”